The ongoing 2026 Benvio study sends a consistent, realistic corporate-event inquiry through the published group-sales channels of hotel chains and independent hotels.
The headline result was not simply slow response. Forty percent received no response, 62% received no price and 65% received no complete price for everything requested.
A reply is not the same as progress
An acknowledgement can be useful. It confirms receipt and may request missing information. But if the original request is already complete and explicitly asks for rates, the commercial milestone is a price the organiser can evaluate.
Teams should distinguish at least four timestamps:
- inquiry received;
- first meaningful response;
- first price sent;
- complete proposal sent.
Collapsing them into one “response time” hides where work actually stalls.
Completeness is a separate control
The reference inquiry asked for meeting space, audiovisual equipment, food and beverage and rooms. A proposal containing one number is not equivalent to a proposal that covers the request, explains the components and includes the relevant conditions.
Complete-proposal coverage answers a different question from quote rate:
- Quote rate: did the customer receive any price?
- Complete-proposal rate: did the customer receive a price for the current requirements?
Both matter because an incomplete offer sends work back to the organiser and extends the decision cycle.
Follow-up begins after the offer
Among inquiries with enough elapsed time for those actions to have occurred, 78% showed no spontaneous follow-up and 95% received no phone call.
Follow-up should not be measured as the next nested stage of the pricing funnel. A hotel can follow up without having sent a complete price, and a proposal can be sent without any later follow-up. Report both behaviours with their correct denominator.
A practical operating scorecard
Start with these measures:
| KPI | What it exposes |
|---|---|
| Response rate | Requests that received any commercial attention |
| Time to first response | Speed of initial engagement |
| Pricing rate | Requests that reached any concrete price |
| Time to price | Speed to an evaluable commercial step |
| Complete-proposal coverage | Requests answered in full |
| Follow-up coverage | Offers actively pursued after sending |
If the current system cannot calculate one of them, that is already a finding about the operating model.